Biography of Henri Matisse

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1907

Paints Nu Bleu, souvenir de Biskra described by the critic Louis Vauxcelles as an “African Venus”. The Bernheim-Jeune gallery becomes his dealer. Travels to Italy during the summer (Florence, Siena, Padua, Venice). With his family moves from 19, quai Saint-Michel to 33, boulevard des Invalides in a former convent.

1908

Opens the Académie Matisse which welcomes over a hundred students until 1911. Publishes Notes of a Painter, a foundational theoretical statement, translated and disseminated throughout Europe. First solo exhibition in New York at the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession.

1909

Paints La Danse and La Musique, the panels commissioned by the Russian collector Sergei Shchukin for his Moscow palace. Moves with his family to Issy-les-Moulineaux, a Paris suburb, where he buys a house. 

Meets the American aesthete Matthew Stewart Prichard who introduces him to Oriental art.

1910

Visits the “Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst” exhibition in Munich which reinforces his interest in Islamic arts. Death of his father in October. Travels to Spain (Madrid, Seville and Granada), visits the Alhambra.

1912

Travels twice to Tangier in Morocco, first between January and April, then from October to February 1913.

1913-1914

Exhibits at the International Exhibition of Modern Art known as the “Armory Show” (New York-Chicago).
Rents a studio again at 19, quai Saint-Michel.
Takes an interest in cubo-futurist circles, spends time with Gino Severini and Juan Gris.
At the outbreak of war in August, is declared unfit for service and then assigned to the auxiliary service.

1915-1916

Between his Paris and Issy studios, carries out pictorial research verging on abstraction (Les Demoiselles à la rivière, Les Marocains, La Leçon de piano).
Starts working with the model Laurette who will pose for around fifty paintings until the summer of 1917.

1917-1918

Travels to Marseille and then to Nice where he settles in late December 1917.
Visits regularly Renoir at Cagnes-sur-Mer.
Returns to a more descriptive type of painting, paints many interior scenes and landscapes.

1919-1928

Works between Nice and Issy.
In 1919, travels to London to create costumes and sets for The Song of the Nightingale choreographed for the Ballets Russes.
Gains visibility on the international art market as exhibitions of his most recent production are organised annually at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery.
Starts working with the model Henriette Darricarrère, paints odalisques. 

1926: buys a flat at 132, boulevard du Montparnasse in Paris.

1929

Goes through a crisis, paints very little and dedicates himself to engraving.

1930-1933

Six-month trip to Tahiti via New York and San Francisco.
Paints the large mural painting La Danse for the entrance hall of Albert C. Barnes’ foundation in Merion (Philadelphia).
Works on his first illustrated book, Poésies by Mallarmé.
Pierre Matisse opens his gallery in New York and organises eight exhibitions on his father’s work between 1932 and 1949.
First Matisse exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York curated by Alfred J. Barr.